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Joe was the obvious choice to lead the Rotary group in the 4th of July Parade. The vote was unanimous. The Rotary members would be wearing toy soldier costumes as they marched in hopefully perfect unison with Joe their captain right out in front-what a plan.

In the country club’s locker room, fat old men squeezed their guts into the heavy bright red woolen toy soldier uniform jackets, popping buttons and yelling for the seamstress to make adjustments, to work the miracle of fitting 100 pounds of bureaucratic blubber into a tapered waist they deemed impossible for any human being to have.

Each of the toy soldiers would carry a heavy wooden replica of a rifle,no ammo ,just the replica except for Joe their leader, who would be brandishing a sword. Joe liked the feel of the sword, the way its blade glistened in the light and the sound it made sliding in and out of its scabbard. Only swords entering and leaving their scabbards made this unique sound which Joe thought was damn near erotic.

Joe and his troop assembled at the back of the country club in full dress uniform. Joe called his men to attention and listened to complaints: the leather boots hurt, the chin straps were chocking and made it hard to breath and most of all ,the jackets were to hot to wear in the heat of summer. Even so, Joe barked out orders and put the men through a close order drill that was as far from order as possible. They kept at it.

There were new faces at the next assembly. Members of the Rotary club had opted to pay younger more military experienced individuals to take their place in the parade. The new faces got the remaining ranks in order in a sort of just follow my lead fashion ,so that the troop was finally all in step and turning in the right direction and at the same time. Now Joe was proud of his men and saluted them with his sword.

Joe was home sitting in his living room in full toy soldier uniform, he even kept his hat on, as he busied himself with oiling the blade of his sword which was aluminum- didn’t matter . Joe had his ear pressed to the scabbard listening to the sound of the blade sliding in and out, when Vivian his wife entered the room laughing.